were coming; and the whole of the tribe, who were then in camp, sallied out in every direction to meet the party, while the man who had brought the news took me over the creek, where I shortly saw the party coming down."

FIRST DISCOVERY OF NEW ZEALAND

BY TASMAN.

A.D. 1642.

THE first account which we have of New Zealand and its native inhabitants was given by Abel Tasman, who, on the 13th of December 1642, discovered a high mountainous country, which he then named, "Staaten Land," or "Land of the States." In latitude 40° 50' he anchored in a fine bay (now Tasman Bay). Here," "he says, found abundance of inhabitants.

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we

They had very hoarse

voices, and were very large-made people. They durst not approach the ship nearer than a stone's-throw; and we often observed them playing on a kind of trumpet, to which we answered with the instruments that were on board our vessel. These people were of a colour between brown and yellow, their hair long, and almost as thick as that of the Japanese, combed up, and fixed on the top of their heads with a quill, or some such thing, that was thickest in the middle, in the very same manner as the Japanese fasten their hair behind their heads. These people cover the middle of their bodies, some with a kind of mat, others with a sort of woollen cloth; but as for their upper and lower parts, they leave them altogether naked.

"On the 19th of December, these savages began to grow a little bolder and more familiar, insomuch that they at

last ventured on board the Heemskirk, in order to trade with those in the vessel. As soon as I perceived it, I sent my shallop, with seven men, to put the people in the Heemskirk on their guard, and to direct them not to place any confidence in those people. My seven men, being without arms, were attacked by these savages, who killed three of the seven, and forced the other four to swim for their lives, which occasioned my giving that bay the name of the Bay of Murderers.'. Our ship's company would undoubtedly have taken a severe revenge, if the rough weather had not hindered them. From this bay we bore away east, having the land in a manner all round us."

Tasman followed the north-west coast (now the coast of Auckland) to its north-western point, which he named after Maria Van Diemen. He then proceeded north-west, to the islands of the Three Kings, which he sailed round, and found to be high and rocky, but with a fresh water river. He saw some few inhabitants on the hills there, but he says he neither set foot on it nor upon New Zealand.

CAPTAIN COOK'S FIRST VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND. A.D. 1768.

RE-DISCOVERY OF NEW ZEALAND.

CAPTAIN COOK was selected by King George III., in the year 1768, to proceed on a voyage of discovery in the Southern Hemisphere. Having visited the Society Islands, and s veral other of the Pacific groups, he sailed in a direction which brought him to New Zealand, and it is thus he describes his first arrival :

"On Friday, October 6th, we saw land from the masthead, and stood directly for it. This land became the subject of much eager conversation, but the general opinion seemed to be that we had found the "Terra Australis Incognita." About five o'clock on the 7th, we saw the opening of a bay, which seemed to run pretty far inland, upon which we hauled our wind, and stood in for it; we also saw smoke ascending from different places on the shore. There were several canoes standing across the bay, and we saw some houses, which appeared to be small, but neat; and near one of them, upon the beach, a considerable number of people sitting collected together.

"In the evening I went on shore, accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr Solander, and a party of men. When we came near the place where the people were assembled, they all ran away. However, we landed; and leaving four of the seamen to take care of the boats, we walked up to some huts which were about two or three hundred yards from the water-side. When we had got some distance from the boat, four men, armed with long lances, rushed out of the woods, and running up to attack the boat, would certainly have cut her off, if the people in the pinnace had not discovered them, and called to the seamen to drop down the stream. They instantly obeyed; but being closely pursued by the natives, the cockswain of the pinnace fired a musket over their heads. At this they stopped and looked round for a moment, but immediately renewed the pursuit, brandishing their lances in a threatening manner. The cockswain then fired a second musket over their heads, but of this they took no notice; and as one of them lifted up his spear to dart it at the boat, another piece was fired, which shot him dead. When he fell, the other three stood motionless for some minutes, as if petrified with astonish

ment. As soon as they recovered, they went back, dragging after them the dead body, which, however, they soon left, that it might not encumber their flight. At the report of the first musket, we drew together, having straggled to a little distance from each other, and made the best of our way back to the boat; and, as we crossed the river, we soon saw the native lying dead upon the ground. His face was tattooed in spiral lines of a very regular figure, and he was covered with a cloak of a fine cloth, and of a manufacture altogether new to us. We returned immediately to the ship, where we could hear the people on shore talking with great earnestness, and in a very loud tone, probably about what had happened, and what should be done.

"In the morning we saw several of the natives where they had been the night before, and some walking with a quick pace towards the place where we had landed, most of them unarmed, but three or four with long pikes in their hands. As I was desirous to establish an intercourse with them, I ordered three boats to be manned with seamen and marines, and proceeded towards the shore, accompanied by Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and Tupia, the native of the Society Islands whom we had brought with us as an interpreter. About fifty of them seemed to wait for our landing on the opposite side of the river, which we thought a sign of fear. I therefore, at first, landed with only Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and Tupia, and advanced towards them; but we had not proceeded many paces before they all started up, and every man produced either a long pike or a small weapon of green talc, extremely well polished, about a foot long, and thick enough to weigh four or five pounds. Tupia called to them in the language of Tahiti, but they answered only by flourishing their weapons, and

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making signs to us to depart. A musket was then fired wide of them, and the ball struck the water, the river being still between us. They saw the effect, and desisted from their threats. However, we thought it prudent to retreat till the marines could be landed. This was soon done, and they marched, with a flag carried before them, to a little bank about fifty yards from the water-side. We then again advanced, and Tupia was again directed to speak to them; and it was with great pleasure that we perceived that he was perfectly understood. Finding, however, that nothing was to be done with the people at this place, and the water in the river also proving to be salt, I proceeded in the boats round the head of the bay in search of fresh water, and with a design, if possible, to surprise some of the natives and take them on board, where, by kind treatment and presents, I might hope to obtain their friendship, and by their means establish an amicable correspondence with their countrymen. To my great regret, I found no place where I could land, a dangerous surf beating everywhere upon the shore; but I saw two canoes coming in from the sea, one under sail and the other with paddles. One of these sailed on till it was in the midst of us, apparently without discerning what we were; and Tupia called out to them to come alongside, and promised for us that no harm should happen to them. They chose, however, to trust rather to their paddles than to our promises; and I then ordered a musket to be fired over their heads, hoping it would either make them surrender or leap into the water. Upon the discharge of the piece they ceased paddling, and all of them began to strip, as we imagined, to jump overboard; but it happened otherwise. They had immediately formed a resolution, not to fly, but to fight; and when the boat came up they began the attack with their paddles,